The walk is a very important part of your relationship with your dog. A nice relaxed walk with loose lead is the best way to create a strong bond and trust between you both.
Here is how I like a walk to start, no excitement, no fear, no noise, just a calm relaxed dog waiting with manners for it's walk.
It's much easier to keep a calm dog relaxed, than trying to calm an excited/panicky dog down whilst out in the big, bad and exciting, outside world. So a nice calm start to the walk is the best way to ensure the walk remains relaxed and enjoyable for both owner and pooch!

I took my pawtrekker dog scooter up to North Clwyd Animal Rescue to give some of the more stressed dog a good run out. Most of them took to it really well and loved the chance to run through the lanes and tracks around the nearby country side. Hopefully I'll be able to build up to 2 or 3 dogs running together.
www.NCAR.org.uk

A little video I use to explain the body language dogs use to communicate. Here, during play, many signals and gestures are given in rapid succession to communicate, "lets play", "I'm no threat", "I trust you", "you can trust me", "lets keep this fun" etc etc. The signals I highlighted are just the main ones, there is literally no time when some body language isn't being offered! Both these dogs, a Staffie and a Staffie cross were from North Clwyd Animal Rescue Centre.